1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a manufacturing method of a cylindrical piezoelectric element, cylindrical piezoelectric element, and minute drive mechanism.
2. Description of the Related Art
There has been an ongoing demand to reduce the size of a cylindrical piezoelectric element. However, size reduction of the cylindrical piezoelectric element entails difficulty. In Jpn. Pat. Appln. KOKAI Publication No. 2009-212519, a manufacturing method of a small-sized cylindrical piezoelectric element is disclosed. That is, according to the manufacturing method disclosed in Jpn. Pat. Appln. KOKAI Publication No. 2009-212519, first, a piezoelectric element formed into a cylindrical shape, and having a configuration in which a convex part convex in the radial direction, and having an axial direction as a longitudinal direction is provided on the outer circumferential surface is formed by extrusion molding. Subsequently, a drive electrode is formed on the outer circumferential surface including the convex part, and a reference electrode is formed on the inner circumferential surface. Further, the piezoelectric element is subjected to polarization processing by utilizing the electrodes, and thereafter the convex part is removed by machining. By this series of processes, a cylindrical piezoelectric element provided with drive electrodes divided into a plurality of pieces can be obtained.